Ballard students inspired by trip to Rwanda

Two Ballard High School sophomores, Ana Krafchick and Dayan Flynn-Walsh, traveled to Rwanda this summer with 10 other members of Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE.

“It was the trip of a lifetime” Krafchick said. “Now that I am home, I find myself grateful for my life here in the United States and so inspired to give back to those who are less fortunate.”

The June 27 to July 12 trip to Rwanda inspired Krafchick and Flynn-Walsh to start a Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE chapter at Ballard High School this year to increase the awareness of the many needs of their sisters in a country on the other side of the world.

Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE, founded by Seattle student Jessica Markowitz when she was 11, is a group of Seattle students working together to support the education of Rwandan girls.

In 1994, genocide swept through Rwanda exterminating 1 million people. Many children lost their parents and stopped attending school because they could not afford it.

When Markowitz learned about the genocide and the effect it was still having on girls her own age, she wanted to help. Richard’s Rwanda was born, and in its four years of existence, the group has raised enough money to support the education of 30 girls in the rural village of Nyamata.

This summer, Markowitz went back to Rwanda for the fourth time and invited Flynn-Walsh and Krafchick, along with nine other members of the original Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE group, to join her.

Markowitz wanted them to meet the girls they have been supporting and visit genocide memorials in hopes that her love and passion for these Rwandan girls would spread throughout the group.

While in Rwanda, the 12 girls spent the bulk of their time teaching English (the new testing language for all Rwandan schools).

“We are greatly humbled by our Nyamata sisters as we realized that they had taught us far more than we have taught them," Flynn-Walsh said. "Now that we are back in the states, we will always remember that we have sisters across the globe who are thinking of us as we are of them.”

If you would like to find out more about Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE, visit www.RichardsRwanda.org.